Malik Ghulam Muhammad - Finance Minister

Finance Minister

On 14 August 1947, Ghulam Muhammad migrated and settled in his native city of Lahore, and opted for Pakistan. He had been a credited and one of the top economist in the country by virtue of his performance, and countries such as Singapore and Thailand had long consulted him on driving economic policies on those country.

He won the favors of Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, and was appointed as newly established country's first Finance minister. He was appointed minister of the Finance ministry during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 and the starting of the Cold war between Soviet Union and the United States. Initially, Ghulam Muhammad visioned for the highly centralized and planned economy, although with capital principles. In 1948, he submitted the draft of the First Five-Year Plans, and gained confidence of Prime minister Ali Khan on his formulated planned economy. However, due to inadequate studies and staffing, the plans did not materialized and the programme collapsed in matter of months after being launched. During this time, he made an effort to restart his programme and his conditions of health deteriorated. In 1949, Ghulam Muhammad invited and delegated leaders of the Muslim world to Pakistan, after first organizing the International Islamic Economics Organization (IIEC), where he emphasized on the idea of an economic block of Muslim world.

He repeatedly suffered from bad health and his his conditions worsened as time passes. By the 1951, he often seen sick during his office hours and often coughed up loudly while giving presentation to the government officials. Judging his condition and economical distress, Liaquat Ali Khan became highly convinced and almost came close enough to signed papers of his relieve, but the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan gave a new chance to increase his influence and power in the national politics.